Threshold
by shinelikeme
Summary: The team must face the most dangerous gang ever, The Outsiders. The government had been chasing them for years yet, they always run straight to their trap. It is up to Scorpion to stop them from finalising their final plan. Power and Control. But before they stop them, they must deal with the team's greatest problem yet, betrayal. Mainly Quintis
1. Chapter 1: Coffee

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** **This is my first and last time I will leave an author's note (unless necessary). Thank you for the guest who commented on the problem in my story. Honestly, I feel embarrassed. Yes, I had not reviewed my story when I posted it a few days ago because I was busy helping with the preparations for Media Noche (New Year's Eve for those who don't know). But I did review my post in AO3 so I thought it is fine. I am also having problems with net connection in my phone (the Wi-Fi was moved in my university dorm) so that might be another factor of the problem. So the solution I came up with is to delete the story and repost it when I found a better connection. Again, I really apologize and would like to thank the Guest who commented.**

 **Happy New Year everyone! =)**

 **DISCLAIMER: CBS owns Scorpion. I do not own anything except the plot and possible OCs. Some info (particularly about the rocket) might be wrong or completely fictional. Hence, it is unreliable.**

"Get her in there!" A man, in black and red on the left and right side of mask that covers his forehead up to his nose, shouted to the group of men covered with the same black and red masks. Four men vigorously carried a woman from the van whose head is covered with a sack while she keeps kicking and wiggling her body in strong beliefs that she can still escape. They entered in an abandoned warehouse where their fellow men are waiting patiently in a stiff military stance. All of them are wearing the same black and red masks and a leather jacket with a red print that says, 'The Outsiders'.

"Mmmmfff!" Underneath the sack, her mouth was put in a gag. Her hands are also tied up behind her,

"She fucking punched me earlier," one masked man furiously stated while holding his nose through the black mask,

"Stop being a pussy and help us here," another masked man grumbled, not letting go of their inordinate person. The kidnapped person kicked the man, who spoke oh his crotch area using her black combat boots,

"Motherfu-" the said person released his hold on the left arm of the kidnapped victim and dropped to the ground, holding the area where he was kicked. The kidnapped victim was about to punch someone around her but another man immediately took hold of her left arm.

"Who is the pussy now?" The previous masked man sniggered.

"Calm down men," a man in front of them, who is believed to have lead the kidnapping expedition said. He removed his mask revealing a handsome brunette man with green eyes that sparkles with mischief smirks rather odiously,

"We do not want to harm our…valuable merchandise, don't we men?" He smirked,

"No sir," they answered,

"Good," The green-eyed man glared, "for a second I thought you're going to destroy its beauty," he stood in front of the kidnapped woman and leaned down until he is in front of where her face should be when it is not covered up,

"Is that right, love?" he whispered. He only received a muffled cry of anger and an almost kick to his crotch if he did not got a hold of her ankle,

"Hmmm. Feisty. I like her."

"Um. James?" The man simply glared at him, I mean boss, I think we need to get her inside." One of the men who is struggling to hold their kidnapped victim stuttered,

"Alright. Alright. Jeez, can't a man have his fun?" James complained,

They brought their prisoner in the middle of the warehouse and tied her to the chair in the middle of it. The men who brought the girl stayed silent and waited for their leader's command.

"We got her Boss," James smirked,

"A job well done, as expected from you James," a gruff voice answered from the dark part of the warehouse,

"What can you say? I am one of the best men you have here," he gloated,

"Enough of your self-musings, James. Put your mask on,"

"Aye, boss."

The said leader walked forward and grabbed the sack over the girl's head and removed it.

The leader revealed that they kidnapped Scorpion's Mechanical Prodigy, Happy Quinn with a gag in her mouth.

"You look just like her." The leader stated using his sinister voice while the Mechanical Prodigy only glared at him, breathing deeply.

 _ **Whiiiiiiiir**_

The sound of the coffee maker filled the garage together with its cinnamon-filled aroma. The man with an IQ of 197 reached for the coffee maker's switch to turn it off. He is about to get a mug to prepare his coffee when a knock was heard from the garage's door,

"Delivery for Happy Quinn's workplace," a man shouted. The brown-eyed and curly-haired genius let out a frustrated groan and approached the door.

'Happy's?' He thought. He opened the door to the garage and was met with a big light blue box with silver decorations surrounding the surface of it.

"Uh…" He stammered, surprised.

"Does someone named Happy Quinn works here, Sir?" The delivery guy asked, and gave him the paper he needs to sign,

"Um…yeah. I'm sorry but who is it from? And why does it have to be delivered here?" Walter queried. The delivery guy simply raised his arms and told him that he is just doing what he was asked to do. Walter simply shrugs and takes the gift from his hands thinking that maybe Happy does not share her home address. A very private person. He saw a cursive and elegant handwriting that says 'from: Kenji Caldwell'. Walter simply raised an eyebrow and proceeds to put the elegantly wrapped present on Happy's station when the garage door opened once again revealing the team's world translator and her genius son.

"Whoa! A gift from whom, Walter?" Paige asked, raising one of her delicate eyebrow while her son approached him,

"What's inside?" the curious kid asked,

"It's not for me. Someone delivered it for Happy," he stated, putting the large rectangular box behind Happy's workstation, making a mental note to tell her later.

"If I do not know anything better, I think Happy has an admirer," Paige stated,

"Another competition for Toby," Walter sighed, going back to his latest project where Ralph is already situated, observing Mr. 197's latest project,

"Hmm? How come?" Paige asked while watching them work with the chemicals, "Ralph, honey, be careful. And we have to go, you have to go to school," her motherly tone stopped Ralph from touching anything further. He just gave his mother a small pout and begins to move away from Walter's desk.

"Well, firstly," Walter started, adding one milliliters of Tollens' reagent to a test tube, "hold on Paige, Ralph has to see this," he motioned Ralph to watch and continued on with the conversation, "I know him and if he is going to give Happy a gift this big personally. He does not do anonymous presents," reaching for an amber glass bottle filled with an unknown compound and continued adding two drops on the test tube with Tollen's reagent, "second, don't you think this is too quick? I do not think Happy is ready for that stage yet. Plus," he plugs the vortex and put the test tube above the plate as he hold it tightly while the vortex shakes the solution thoroughly, "I know that Toby knows that this is not the right time," he finished and lifted the test tube. He then put the test tube with the solution on a test tube rack in front of Ralph,

"That is very astute of you, Walter," Paige said, surprised, "you are finally learning," she grinned as she watches the solution developed a precipitate inside. Walter takes the test tube and put it on the water bath. After a little while, he lifted the text tube from the water bath and returned it to the test tube rack while they watched the solution turn into a silver mirror slowly inside the test tube.

"Thanks to you," he smiled. They stared at each other for a little while.

"Tollens' reagent," Ralph exclaimed, oblivious to his surroundings,

"It is used to determine the presence of an aldehyde or alpha-hydroxy-ketone functional group. Very easy. Read it when I was 5, first time to try it though," he looks up to Walter cheekily. He smiled and ruffled his hair,

"Off to school," he nodded to Paige and she reached for Ralph's hand.

"Where are the others by the way? Usually they are here before us," Paige asked while Ralph is fetching his things from the sofa where he put it when he saw the gift from earlier,

"Toby and Sly went out for snacks…I think and Happy texted me and said she will be late for work." He said, distracted from Paige's eyes.

The door to the garage once again opened, revealing the behaviorist and the human calculator drinking coffee. Still not fund of the cinnamon-flavored coffee.

"You called?" The guy wearing a fedora announced,

"Hey guys," human calculator greeted them going straight to his workstation. Walter only nodded while Paige and Ralph smiled at their direction. The garage door, once again opened to reveal Cabe together with Deputy Homeland Director, Katherine Cooper,

"Awww. We just arrived," Toby whined, taking a sip of his coffee,

"Zip it, Doc," Cabe scolded, "crime does not sleep."

"Why don't you go ahead, Ralph? I heard the bus," Paige smiled at her son and watches him go ahead to school.

"Okay I need everyone for this case," Katherine begins,

"But Happy is not yet here," Sylvester stated,

"That is unlike of her," Toby raised an eyebrow,

"Well I will appreciate it if you call her right away," Katherine said using her professional voice, irritated to the fact that someone is late for work,

"I got it," Cabe sighed, bringing out his phone,

"Is this the first time Happy got late?" Paige asked,

"Pretty much. She is always the first one to arrive here," Walter answered. Paige just replied with a thoughtful 'hmm'.

"She is not picking up her phone," Cabe said, getting worried,

"Well we need to find her right away because we really need everyone in thi-" the irritated deputy director begins to rant when the garage door suddenly opened revealing a very tired mechanical prodigy.

"Took you long enough," Cabe said, crossing his arms,

"Sorry," Happy simply replied, distracted.

"What happened to you?" Walter asked, raising one of his eyebrows,

"It's just…" she stopped herself upon seeing the disgruntled deputy director, "not important,"

"You're hiding something," Toby began,

"Hmmpf,"

"Slouching posture, heavy eyes, irritated attitude…more so than usual," he listed, "nightmares?" Happy did not answer. Instead, she went straight to the kitchen to get coffee.

"Nightmares," the behaviorist confirmed, "want to talk to the best doctor of the world about it?"

"Will you shut up?" She snapped. Toby only raised his hands and is about to say something when,

"Alright, you can all talk about Miss Quinn's prior ordeal later," Katherine began using her professional tone once again, "But the world needs saving and I want to make sure I have Miss Quinn's unwavering attention," she addressed Happy,

"I assure you that my condition will not affect our assignment," she simply replied then takes a sip of her coffee. Toby stared at Happy as she diverts her attention to the frustrated deputy director. Hiding her disdain to the cinnamon-flavored caffeine.

"Now that everyone is in attendance and I have your full attention," she proceeds to give each one of them the folder filled with the information of their latest mission, "five males were killed for five consecutive months. Each month, one guy found." Happy bit her lower lip as she opened the file,

"I think I'm going to be sick," Sly feebly stated, cannot look away from the pictures of the corpses in the case file. Paige gasps when she saw the guys' body.

"A murder case…" Walter stated, reviewing the case.

"Police department and our greatest detectives do not understand the killer's stratagem that is why they gave this case to Homeland. Director Molina suggested that you guys should take it," Katherine professionally stated,

"Oh look guys, we're celebrities," Toby murmured while examining the corpses on the images,

"Ah, Director Molina how is she?" Sylvester bitterly stated while wincing at the files' picture of the bodies,

"Huh,"

"What is it Toby?" Cabe asked,

"They are all in different fields. Read through it,"

"Reynolds, Abraham. 55-yrs-old, lawyer," Paige reads through, "Guillermo, Anthony. 58-yrs-old, scientist in Brownstone Labs. Nickelson, Richard. 65-yrs-old, retired professional boxer. Baker, Mills. 50-yrs-old, NYPD. Finally, Monzano, Lionell, 50-yrs-old, a pilot."

"Your point, doc?" Happy asked, staring at every corpse,

"They must be a member of a dangerous gang," he interjected, "I can see a mask on one of the victim's drawer, one where I am very familiar of," he squinted his eyes, "Holy cow. Guys…"

"Spit it out, Toby," Walter said, staring at the mask Toby pointed out,

"This is 'The Outsiders'," he said with his eyes wide open,

"Okay, are they someone who you owe money to? Or…" Sylvester trailed,

"No, you do not understand,"

"The Outsiders is a dangerous terrorist group," the deputy director answered, "they are the ones who are responsible for reckless bombings and killings over the past century. I want to give you the list but I am afraid we do not have much time. The CIA believed that they all have connections hence, they suggested you to take over this case."

"They are what we call the Kingpin of all the terrorist and gang groups. Very dangerous group you do not want to mess with," Happy added, "but rumors said that they were destroyed in a warehouse caused by a malfunctioned bomb they were supposed to make at some point of time," she takes a sip of her coffee. All of them slowly look at her, "What? Do not tell me you guys are still surprised with the things I know," she pointed.

"We are aware of these rumors. Yet it looks like they were proven wrong earlier," Cooper continued,

"As you can all see, there are pictures of disarrayed homes of the respective victims. Making this not only a homicide, but also it is believed that something is taken from them. What we can't figure out is they left something,"

"Auxillary reaction engines…" Happy mumbled, bringing out a photograph in the file,

"A what?" Paige asked,

"The victims are hiding the parts from a rocket," she continued, "I know those containers and they usually keep rocket parts in there. It is possible that this Outsiders are stealing the rocket parts from the victims,"

"But why are they stealing and killing them when all of them are members of The Outsiders," Cabe asked,

"Because they might be kicked out or ran away from the group. Look at the cabinet," Toby pointed out, "there's a leather jacket with a print that says 'The Outsiders,"

"It looks like it is ripped apart," Sylvester stated,

"Based on their professions and police records…actually, they do not have police records, which is impossible for a member of a very dangerous group. Oh look, an NYPD officer. It may be the reason why they even have respectable jobs. Enough to erase their police records but not enough to change their names."

"Anyway, we have an undercover agent inside 'The Outsiders'," Cooper continued but was cut off again,

"But that is dangerous," Paige interjected,

"We know. One of the best cooperatives we have. Highly-trained and suitable for this job. More than capable. But we are asked to keep it anonymous for now to avoid further…complications," Cooper explained. Paige bit her lower lip, giving her a worried look,

"And we have to take this case?"

"I'm afraid so Ms. Dineen,"

"Hey," Walter faced Paige with a determined look on his face, "we'll be alright." Paige only nodded.

"Your mission is what the government wants to do in a very long time,

"Alright. How about we investigate the crime scenes of one of these victims first," Walter said, "we might find something there to see what this 'Outsiders' want with the victims," he quoted with two fingers of each hand in the air,

"Alright, I shall escort you on the way there," Cooper started walking away when she got a message on her phone.

"Oh boy,"

"What is it?" Cabe asked,

"Looks like there are two victims this month," she answered while replying to the message, "we need to go."

The team grabbed the things necessary to the mission. Happy grabbed her tools on her table, oblivious to the elegantly wrapped rectangular present behind her table.


	2. Chapter 2: Hall Porter

"Oh my!" Paige exclaimed,

"Do we really have to take this case?" Sylvester complained, going green.

The team surrounds the latest victim while Happy is taking a look around the said victim's house with her second coffee.

"Guys, I think taking this case is a bad idea," Sly's anxiety is going up again,

"Sylvester," Walter faced him, "focus."

"Okay. Focus," he breathed, "I can do this." Sly put his hand on the table behind him. He froze, felt something wet. He slowly turned his head on the direction of his hand and saw that he put his hand on a little puddle of blood.

"Oh God."

"His name is Hall Porter," a detective said to them, "53-yrs-old and a lab tech in Brownstone Labs." Sylvester is furiously finishing Paige's box of tissue while he helps him get the blood off his hands,

"Brownstone Labs? Isn't that where the other victim works too?" Paige asked, looking around and giving Sly her bottle of alcohol instead of staring at the corpse.

"He was dead for 11 hours from now. His neighbors found his front door broken so they took a peak inside and then…this," the detective pointed out the crime scene which consists of broken glass, blood, capsized tables and chairs then continued and face the team, "and we would appreciate it if you don't contaminate the crime scene so this might help," the detective gave them a box of gloves, staring at Sly. Sly just gave him a tight-lipped look and takes the box,

"That's all detective," Cooper dismissed him,

"Anything?" Cabe asked the rest of the team,

"Mask," Happy said when she opened the closet just below the TV,

"Confirming that the latest victim is one of 'The Outsiders'," Cabe said, roaming around,

"It looks like I'm needed somewhere," the Deputy Director of Homeland said after getting off the phone call,

"I wish you all the luck in solving this case. Call me for updates," she nodded and left. The team continued searching the place while Walter is browsing through the computer while mumbling about the nonexistence of luck in this world.

" _If you want him to stay alive," he's vexed, "you should have shoot him."_

 _-blink-_

 _Those angry eyes._

 _-blink-_

" _No please..." The guy pleaded,_

 _-blink-_

" _Quinn? You're his daughter?" He is terribly distraught._

 _-blink-_

 _He reached for her throat and slammed her to the left side of the wall._

 _-blink-_

" _She will pay."_

 _-blink-_

"Hey," Toby approached Happy, she ignored him with pursed lips, continuing her search around the place.

"So do you want to talk about it?" He tried again,

"Talk about what exactly?" Happy finally replied after a few seconds,

"Your nightmare."

"I'm a genius, doc. I don't do nightmares."

"That is true. But the way you act says otherwise," he stated, "staring at nothing for a few minutes. Dilated eyes, rapid shallow breathing. You are a genius and it is unlikely for you to have a nightmare but…you do have memories. Flashbacks to be exact."

"There is nothing to talk about. Now stop shrinking me and go to work," she said with irrevocability,

"Look. I will stop to shrink my way out of this but please keep in mind that I can help you in more ways than one," she gave him a look, "okay. That sound dirty but it is unintentional!" she is still staring at him, "just…please remember I am here if you need a friend to talk to," he sighed

"I will bear it in my mind," she implausibly said, drinking her second cup of coffee of the day. Toby let it go for the meantime and continues observing the dead guy's place,

"Ugh, cinnamon."

Sylvester proceeds towards Toby,

"Any luck?" He whispered,

"None. She's pretty determined to keep it all to herself," he whispered back, "I'm planning to observe her for the rest of the day just in case,"

"Um…" Sly is confused, "as much as I want to know how Happy is doing…I, unfortunately, was not asking for that,"

Toby's eyes widen and answered taciturnly, "Oh. Nope. Nada. No clues yet." Sly simply nodded and went back to investigating the kitchen, away from the corpse.

Cabe, who was in the dead man's bedroom, informed the team,

"Well, it looks like the guy is keeping a part of a possible bomb in his bedroom too. The casing is still here, just like the others. Underneath his bed to be exact,"

"Hmm, predictable," Toby commented, "let me guess: He hides a part of the bomb under his bed together with his collection of dirty magazines and maybe a box full of random things? Memoirs perhaps?" Happy raised an eyebrow,

"What? If we are dealing with terrorist groups, they mostly have those three things under his bed," Happy keeps staring at him,

"I'm a behaviorist! It does not apply to me," he defended himself,

"With the exception of the dirty magazines," Cabe intervened, "they are all in there. I think you can find something in this box Toby," he said, giving Toby the box. He accepted it and begins inspecting the things inside it. Cabe continues roaming until he saw a dent in the wall of the hallway near the front door,

"That's odd," Sly said behind Cabe,

"The detectives said that they're still trying to figure out the purpose of this dent. It seems like there is no connection to the murder scene here," they inspected the dent on the wall,

"How sure are they that this dent appeared recently?"

"If it happened a long time ago, the color on the part where the walls broke should have a different color by now" Happy answered, appearing beside them,

"How do you know that that is not the color of the wall?" Cabe asked. Happy simply raised an eyebrow and moved one step back. Toby, looking up from the box he was inspecting, asked,

"Um…What are you doing?" Happy simply ignored him and clenched her fist,

"Now wait a sec-" Cabe begun but was met with Happy's fist just beside his head. Sly had a wide-eyed look on him,

"That never cease to fail to turn me on," Toby said, breathless. Happy just glanced at him and rolled her eyes,

"Give a man a warning next time," Cabe said. Happy removed her fist and showed them the resemblance of the color of the wall,

"Just proving a point," she answered tiredly, still drinking from her cup of coffee.

"This does not make sense," Sly said, his anxiety is making him nervous.

"Everything is clean…for a scientist," Walter informed, still browsing the computer's files,

"I do not get it," Paige said beside him,

"Well, this scientist must not bring his work at home because everything is clean. Literally…" Walter huffed,

"Oh no. I mean, if these people are hiding something why don't they set up an alarm system in order to guide the things they hide, right?" The geniuses stopped what they are doing and stared at Paige while Cabe looked at everyone.

"Um…sorry," Paige said sheepishly, "that's stupid. I mean, that's what I will do if I am hiding something important."

"No, actually it is a great idea. Why didn't we thought of that?" Walter stood up and everyone but Paige and Cabe looked up and started searching for something. Paige and Cabe looked at each other,

"Okay, don't leave us in the dark," Cabe said,

"What are you guys doing?" Paige asked,

"Like you said, if you want to hide something important," Walter began,

"You want to set-up an alarm system," Sly continued,

"But the guy clearly does not have any alarm system in here so he should have a-" Toby explained but was cut off,

"CCTV camera." Happy finished, pointing to the hidden camera just above her which points directly to the hallway and disguised as a picture frame on the wall.

A few moments later, they gathered up to Walter's laptop to watch the video. Walter skipped the video until the point where Hall Porter is about to open the door. It revealed a red-haired woman wearing the gang's signature mask, red leather jacket and black leather pants pointing a gun to Hall Porter who got terrified, fell down then crawled back until he reached the other side of the hall,

" _No." The man she needs to kill fell back. She remained stagnant. Still pointing the gun to him._

" _I thought-" he stammered, "all of you were supposed to be dead!"_

" _I'm kind of new here," the red-haired woman simply said, "I'm sorry," she put her finger on the trigger of her Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol._

'Focus,' Happy grits her teeth to force the scene out of her head and focused on the video that is very familiar to her.

"He's talking. Can you pump up the volume, Walter?" Cabe asked,

"It is currently defective. Seems like it was not ministered well," he answered,

"Hmmm. He must have thought that they forgot all about him and the rocket part. It is in human nature that we can be a little bit careless around the stuff that we thought that does not matter anymore. Hence, this," Toby explained,

The woman did not moved her mouth a little while but Hall paused and began to stand up slowly while the gun is still pointing at him. He was talking to the woman…or someone behind her.

" _If only you were a Linkwood instead of a Quinn, I will be so proud of you," the man, behind the woman, sneered through his mask. Giving the soon-to-be-dead man a stink eye. Porter paused and slowly stood up,_

" _Quinn?" He horrifyingly stated, "You're Patrick Quinn's daughter?" The woman the gang's signature outfit remained quiet._

"Is that recognition?" The Harvard-trained psychiatrist pointed out, "The woman must have said something to him…or he knows her. Maybe that is why she did not shot him instantly when he opened the door."

Happy was watching the video but not actually seeing it. Hall Porter kept talking. It looks like he was sputtering nonsense in order for the woman to spare his life but Happy knows that that is not the case.

" _Save yourself," Hall Porter said, his arms still raised, "Patrick does not want this to happen, you know that."_

" _Shoot him." The leader whispered on the woman's ear, "The gun is aimed, you just need to shoot him."_

" _I…" The woman's hands are shaking, "can't."_

" _Enough of this Linkwood!" Hall Porter yelled, "You will always lose. Patrick-"_

" _Will soon die if you don't pull the trigger, woman!" The leader, whose name was revealed Linkwood, cut off Porter. Porter became silent for a moment,_

" _You wouldn't dare."_

" _I think your little resignation from The Outsiders might have affected your memory, Porter," he said menacingly, not moving behind the red-haired woman clad in the gang's signature outfit, "I love dares."_

"What is she waiting for?" Paige asked while watching the surveillance video. The woman was standing there, hands on her gun and pointing to the soon-to-be-dead Hall Porter,

"Hesitation," Toby replied, "I can see the hesitation markers based on her body posture. Her shoulders are tensed; you might not see it clearly but her pointer finger, which is the one that will pull the trigger, keeps moving back and forth…I think. It is not that clear in the footage but the colors of the video bits keep changing," they keep watching Hall Porter talking to the woman,

"I think she's a newbie," Toby declared,

"It does not makes sense," Walter said, "Why did they hired a newbie to do this job? They usually take one step at a time."

"Your guess is as good as mine, buddy," the team's behaviorist returned, "it is not ideal for them to make a ruckus when they're not ready."

" _Pull the trigger."_

 _Porter has determined look on his face, "kill me then."_

" _But remember…_

 _You always lose, Linkwood."_

 _-BANG-_

 _-thud-_

The team immediately turned their face away from the screen when they saw that Hall Porter was shot dead by the woman with the mask. Paige's gasped echoed through the room, Cabe, because of his experience, only flinched a little then stared at how Porter fell to the ground. Happy bit her bottom lip.

"That's painful to watch," Paige commented with a horrified look.

Walter observed the video for a few moments then looked around the place. He paused the video then stands up, "this is just too easy," he stated, looking around the crime scene,

"What do you mean?" Cabe asked,

"Think of it," Walter stands in front of the team, "everyone of the past victims are killed and then a part of a possible nuke was taken from them. This 'Outsiders' found the parts in the domicile of their former members but the difference between them and Hall Porter is that Porter is the only one who is paranoid enough to set-up a CCTV camera in his home. But…"

Toby cut him off, "He is not paranoid enough to kept upgrade his security system…" he paused for a while, "there might be at some point of their time that they thought that the 'Outsiders' were not chasing them anymore to the point that they became careless yet this Hall Porter guy is not taking his chances and remains strict enough to guard the nuke parts or…"

Sly cut him off this time, "he is also guarding a very important part of the nuke."

Cabe spoke, "I think I heard it somewhere that the CIA already abolished this group," he continued, "I just remembered a colleague of mine boasting at the fact that he is one of the members who actually infiltrated them by setting up a bomb in one warehouse where they are hiding a few years ago,"

"Wait a second," Paige suddenly speaks up, "so you are saying that 'The Outsiders' should be dead right now?"

"That is what I just said," Cabe confirmed,

"Then why had they appeared again?" Sly asked,

"The question is: Why are they killing again if they're all dead?" Toby said,

"Uh, okay. Priorities. Priorities." Walter said, trying to arrange the things they need to do, "first, we must look what Porter is really hiding in his domicile."

"Um…look for what exactly?" Paige asked,

"Something out-of-place." Walter answered,

"Something dangerous, I bet." Cabe said,

"Something that crucial for a nuke to have," Sly added,

"Or something that he values," Toby said taking out a small sheet of paper, "67345outsiders?" he read what is written on the paper, "now why would a scientist have something written on this paper?"

"Well, maybe it is just trash, doc." Happy said, giving the paper to Walter,

"If it is trash, why would he keep it in his box where he keeps his…keepsakes," Walter said giving the paper to Paige while Sly and Cabe are looking over her shoulder to see the paper,

"Well I keep some passwords to my accounts in some place hidden," Paige said,

"Notebook? Under your bed?" Happy asked, looking at her. Paige widened her eyes,

"Typical hiding place of some stuck-up bitches in the orphanage," Happy shrugged while Paige stared at her, "not that you are one of those stuck-up bitches," she added,

"…especially the accounts that I do not usually use anymore." Paige added after a few moments of silence from the group,

"So you think that this is a password in some accounts in his laptop?" Cabe asked,

"Yeah…" she paused, "on a second thought, it is a stupid idea."

Walter interrupted her, "No you may be right except on the fact that it is not a password for an account…"

Sylvester cut him off, "it might be a password to some safe. The guys who killed Porter did not found it under his bed so they trashed the whole place finding it,"

"Typical thugs," Toby commented,

"So now we have to look for a safe?" Cabe said,

"Yes. Now, Sly, can you check this guy's credit card activity? So we can see if he goes out a lot," Walter asked him,

"Piece of cake," Sly said, using the computer of Porter and after a few seconds, he found it,

"Got it. Looks like the guy does not goes out much,"

"Which indicates?" Paige asked,

"That the safe is surely here." Happy answered, tapping her foot into one of the floorboards, "this board sounds different," she whispered to herself.

Happy proceeds to examine the floorboard she was previously stepping. Walter approached Happy and examines the floorboard for a little while. After that, they looked at each other and the two of them gave a look of understanding to each other.

"Give me your car key," Walter said to Paige. She just handed it to him without questioning him.

He inserted the key in between of the floorboards and moved it in an angle making the floorboard they previously examining lift up. Happy grabbed the floorboard and set it aside, revealing a safe with a digital passcode input.

Walter faced Happy, "well?"

Happy studied the exterior of the safe and gave him a nod, "that must be a password," she confirmed,

Paige, who is holding the paper dropped down to her knees and entered the password that is written on the paper into the safe's digital passcode input. After a couple of onomatopoeic pings on the digital passcode input, the safe opened. It revealed a cylindrical object containing a blue liquid glow inside,

"Is that what I think it is?" Happy said, shocked at their discovery,

"What is it?" Cabe asked, peering inside,

"A nuclear reactor core," Happy said, pursing her lips.

Walter reached for the reactor core and held it up, "yep. This is what they are looking for."

"Something out-of-place, check. Something dangerous, check. Something crucial for a nuke to have, check. Something he values. Check." Toby listed down while Walter is holding the nuclear reactor core.

"We need to go back to the garage."

" _Save yourself, Quinn." Hall Porter's last words echoed through the woman's mind, "this will not be pretty once you go deeper." He gave out his last breath._

 _The woman still has her gun poised into Hall Porter while he fell back to the ground. Dead. Bullet hole on his chest._

" _Remember Quinn," the leader leaned closer to her, "you can never leave once you cross the threshold." He gestured for his men to search the premises. The woman stares at Hall Porter's body. Looking at his now dead eyes._


End file.
